Archive for September, 2011

Thursday at 5pm, we aired a story about a slew of new HOA laws that came out of this Legislative session. Some took effect in June, some yesterday… and some will start in January. We couldn’t include all 32 of the laws in our 2 minute report; but some of you have called and emailed asking where you can get a list. For your convenience, I am posting all of the new laws here. The summary of each new law is very general. For specifics and exceptions, refer to the House or Senate bill or the Texas Property Code to read the law in its entirety.

Rain Barrel Rules(Texas Prop. Code 202.007d) HB3391 Effective 9/1/11

HOAs must permit owners to install and use rain-harvesting devices if they meet certain architectural requirements.

An HOAs dedicatory instruments must be posted on an HOA “publicly accessible” HOA website that must include copies of all governing documents of the HOA (i.e., declaration, bylaws, rules, articles and all amendments).

Mandatory application of payments schedule. States HOA must apply owners’ payments in the following order: delinquent assessments, current assessments, attorney fees or third party collection costs, other attorney fees, fines, other amounts.